Abstracts
from Volume 28, Number 2
(June, 2001)

E.
Franklin Frazier's Theory of the Black Family: Vindication and
Sociologist InsightClovis E. Semmes
Despite many accolades, E. Franklin Frazier, the first African American
to be elected to the American Sociological Society, is also an object
of scorn. Specifically, some accuse Frazier of a view that blames
the ills of the Black community on female-headed households, illegitimacy,
and family disorganization. Some also accuse Frazier of characterizing
the Black family as broken and pathological and the opinion that families
must be formal and nuclear in order to be viable. This paper argues
that these representations of Frazier are mistaken and offers a more
accurate and holistic portrayal of Frazier's sociological judgments
and theorizing regarding the African-American family.

Biracial
Sensitive Practice: Expanding Social Services to an Invisible PopulationRonald E. Hall
Although literature acknowledges the existence of a biracial population,
there has been minimal discussion about the differences indicative of
biracial clients and how these difference impact provision of services.
Too frequently, race criterion has been utilized to categorize biracial
clients resulting in an all but invisible population. A biracial
individual may then assume a multiplicity of identities including African-,
Asian-, Latino-, and Native-American, when negotiating with macro institutions
including social services. As an alternative to racial paradigms,
identity across the lifespan is suggested as a more comprehensive model
for biracial clients. In the aftermath said clients will be rendered
visible by identity models that prevail less on the basis of race and
more on the basis of experience extended across the lifespan. Work
Values of Students and their Success in Studying at the Study Centre for
Social Work in Zagreb, Croatia Mladen Knezevic & Marija Ovsenik Work values are relatively common and permanent foals that we want to
achieve through our professional roles. According to a number of
research studies, work values are acquired relatively early in the process
of socialization, and they are relatively strong and unchangeable. In
this article we investigate the question, whether among the students of
social work there is any relation between such gained work values and
success in studying. The results show that the value of altruism, which
most characteristically distinguishes social work as a profession, is
significantly correlated with success in studying. On the other
hand, the correlation between utilitarian values and successful study
is inverted.

From Plan
Closure to Reemployment in the New Economy: Risks to Workers Dislocated
from the Declining Garment Manufacturing Industry Cynthis Rocha
The current study investigates financial and emotional consequences to
workers as the U.S. economy continues to shift from a manufacturing to
a service economy. One hundred eighty-eight garment workers were
surveyed before their plant closed in 1998 and six months later to assess
reemployment opportunities, financial difficulty, and emotional well-being.
All workers experienced some financial difficulty after the plant closed,
with single parents reporting the greatest financial difficulty. Workers
who became immediately reemployed lost an average of $2.41 in wages per
hour. Sixteen percent of the sample lost their health insurance.
Overall depression and anxiety scores declined over six months, but not
evenly. Men and single women did not significantly decline in depression
or anxiety. Financial difficulty was the most important predicator
for both depression and anxiety. Financial difficulty was the most
important predictor for both depression and and anxiety. Immediate
reemployment serviced to increase depression in the presence of financial
difficulty.

Beyond the
Rank and File Movement: Mary van Kleeck and Social Work Radicalism in
the Great Depression, 1931-1942Patrick Selmi & Richard Hunter
In this article we critically examine the radical views and actions of
Mary van Kleeck during the Great Depression. As the Director of
Industrial Studies for the Russell Sage Foundation, van Kleeck was arguable
the most prominent radical woman affiliated with social work during the
Great Depression; however, current scholarship[ has limited her contributions
to social work's radical minded rank and file movement. In this
study, we redress this situation through an analysis of her work both
within and without the rank and file movement. We pay special attention
to her efforts to promote social planning, organized labor, and advanced
technology as ways to resolve the Great Depression, and we identify how
her views were distilled from social work's founding knowledge base within
modern social science. We conclude b y revealing both positive and
negative
implications of her work for contemporary social workers struggling to
address various social issues associated with economic globalization,
advanced technology, and America's declining commitment to the welfare
state.

Welfare
Reform Sanctions and Financial Strain in a Food-Pantry SampleJean Oggins & Amy Fleming
Survey and interview data about life after welfare reform were collected
from food pantry clients in upstate New York in 1997 and 1999. By
1999, respondents were increasingly likely to have no work or benefits.
Having no work or benefits was also associated with having been penalized
(sanctioned) for not working or for noncompliance with welfare rules.
Sanctions for not working averaged 89 days. Clients sanctioned for
job loss tended to report problems with health ( including children's
health). Sanctioned individuals reported relatively high levels of financial
strain, unstable housing, children's changing schools, and lack of a phone.
Implications for policy and practice are discussed.

Managed
Care and Social Work: Practice Implications in an Era of Change Sophia F. Dziegielewski & Diane C. Holliman
The purpose of this article is to explore the role of the clinical social
worker in a time of unprecedented change. The events of the last decade
have transformed health care delivery as well as professional performance
expectations. To facilitate understanding, the environmental considerations
that surround these changes are traced and discussed. A direct linkage
is made to clinical social work practice and suggestions for the future
survival of the profession is discussed. These suggestions include:
(1) a greater focus on behaviorally-based outcomes that result in cost-beneficial
service provision; (2) increased marketing of social work services to
health care providers; (3) promotion of social work services as an integral
part of the success of the interdisciplinary team; (4) incorporate a macro
perspective into micro or clinical practice approaches; and, (5)
explore non-traditional roles for social work professionals to expand
their current practice area.

Changing
Patterns of Acute Psychiatric Hospitalization under a Public Managed Care
ProgramChristopher G. Hudson
This study evaluates changes in patterns of acute psychiatric hospitalization
under Massachusetts' Medicaid-funded Mental Health and Substance Abuse
(MMHSA) carve-out program. The data consists of the Case Mix database,
for FY 1996 and FY 1997, compiled by the states Division of Health Care
Finance and Policy, on all acute hospital episodes in the state. Key comparisons
involve hospital utilization during the nine months preceding the 1996
implementation of the current expanded carve-out program and the subsequent
15 months of its implementation. Secondary comparisons are made between
patients funded by the state's two major Medicaid programs, its behavioral
carve-out and its contracted HMOs, as well as with other cohorts. Key
variables include demographic and diagnostic measures, length of stay
and recidivism, source of referral,
insurance, socioeconomic characteristics of zip code of residence, and
transfers between programs.

Findings include
lower than anticipated rates of transfer from the free-care program to
the behavioral carve-out program and higher than average and increasing
levels of recidivism for patients in the behavioral carve-out program.
The final model, based on a Cox regression analysis, correctly predicts
62.9% of the rehospitalization experience, a statistically significant
portion of which was attributable to type of insurance overage. The study
also shows that neither the carve-out nor the HMO model of managed care
are clearly superior one another.

BOOK
REVIEWS
The Struggle for Control of Public Education: Market Ideology vs. Democratic
Values. Michael Engel.
Reviewed by Leon Ginsberg